George Miller: “If I could just say, Mr. Speaker, every day we start out the House of Representatives with the Pledge of Allegiance.…”

“If I could just say, Mr. Speaker, every day we start out the House of Representatives with the Pledge of Allegiance. Members of this House and our guests in the gallery, they pledge allegiance to the United States of America. They do not pledge it until their taxes are too high, or until they want to save money. They pledge allegiance to the United States of America through thick and thin, through good and bad. They do not pledge it until their kid does not get into college. They do not pledge allegiance to the United States until their son or daughter gets drafted into the Army to fight an unpopular war. They pledge allegiance to the United States day in and day out. Now we have a handful of billionaires that, for the sole purpose of avoiding taxes, are willing to renounce their American citizenship, and we are going to say 'Give them the congressional stamp of approval.' It is absolutely outrageous that we would do that, considering the other patriotic Americans that have lost their lives pledging allegiance to the United States of America, that have lost their homes pledging allegiance, that have lost their children in wars, that have lost their spouses and their loved ones in wars in this country. Now a handful of people decide that it is no longer to their advantage to pledge allegiance to the United States. They are going to leave the country for the sole purpose, this is the only way this can happen, for the sole purposes of avoiding taxation on their estates.”